Lost Season 5 Premiere Date and Michelle Dessler joins the cast

By Mat Mitovich,Tv Guide
November 7,2008

Cue our favorite creepy whooshing sound, because ABC has confirmed the premiere date for the fifth season of Lost, and it's Jan. 21.

Yep, that's a Wednesday, and it's where Lost — which last season aired Thursdays at 10 pm/ET, following Grey's Anatomy — will stay.

More specifically, Lost's regular time slot will be Wednesdays at 9 pm, though the new cycle will kick off with a three-hour event — a clip show followed by the first two episodes.

Last season, Lost saw its best-laid plans to air all of its episodes uninterrupted, à la 24, waylaid by the WGA strike. At this time, sources are unable to confirm if the 17-episode Season 5 will in fact pull off the straight-through feat.

And what of Private Practice, some of you may ask? It's a keeper, of course, having secured a full-season pick-up a while ago. ABC will announce its plans for the Grey's spin-off, as well as the rest of its midseason lineup, sometime next week.

Reiko Aylesworth joins the cast of Lost

By Matt Fowler,IGN
November 7,2008
Spoiler Warning: While there is nothing that extensive in the way of plot information here, if you want to remain completely and utterly untainted by advance knowledge of the next season of Lost - stop reading now.

"Reiko Aylesworth is in negotiations for a major recurring role on ABC's Lost," says The Hollywood Reporter.

Having played CTU's Chief of staff Michelle Dessler on 24, Aylesworth will now play Amy, "a smart and successful professional woman with a love for the outdoors who is looking for the right man."

The character will appear in four episodes next season, but it is not known whether or not she will be a new member of the island community, or someone from the normal non-"black smoke monster" infested world.